SIDEBAR

THE SCOOP

Among the injured are Kennedy Marchment (broken arm), Lindsay Johnston (concussion) and Taylor Edwards (broken toe). Marchment could return as early as this weekend, while Edwards is playing through her injury ... The game originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 11 in Stoney Creek has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Feb. 19. Apparently, the new arena in Stoney Creek was ready for ice rentals.

AJAX -- Durham West Jr. Lightning head coach Wayne McDonald had mixed emotions about a long layoff that kept his team out of game action for almost three weeks over the holidays.

When last they played, the Lightning capped an eight-game undefeated streak with a 2-1 win over Bluewater back on Dec. 23. In their first game back in Provincial Women's Hockey League action on Saturday, that streak was snapped, losing to first place Mississauga 3-2.

"First game, first period, we stunk against Mississauga and I think the shots were ridiculous in the first period," said McDonald, whose team was outshot 16-4 and faced a 2-0 deficit after the opening period. "Then we clawed back, had a couple of opportunities late. Our second and third periods we played pretty good."

After falling behind 3-0 in the second, call-up Brittany Kucera got the Lightning on the board before the period was out, and Dana Fairbarn's power-play goal late in the third gave the Lightning a chance. They couldn't get the equalizer in the final 2:55, however.

The final shot total finished 37-26 in favour of Mississauga, as the Lightning found their stride.

After playing the top team in the league, the Lightning were at the other end of the scale on home ice Sunday, facing last place Southwest, resulting in a 4-1 win.

"We had a strong two periods against Southwest, but the third was not as strong. It was one of those things, we were never in any trouble," said McDonald.

Brittany St. James scored twice in the first period and Stephanie Cooper added a third, while Taylor Edwards added another for a commanding 4-1 lead through two periods. Jackie Rochefort's shutout bid was spoiled with just 2:19 left in the game, as the Lightning outshot Southwest 35-16 on the afternoon.

While some rust gathered in their game over the 20-day layoff, there were some positives to come out of it. Because of an assortment of injuries, the Lightning had to cancel a trip to play NCAA schools Ohio State and Mercyhurst, but on the plus side, the injured players had time to heal.

"It was a good thing because we were getting banged up," said McDonald. "But the first game back, it's tough to compete against Mississauga."

The Lightning, who sit fourth with a record of 17-5-1-1 have a busy weekend, starting with a trip to Leaside on Friday, followed by home dates on Saturday to Waterloo (8:30 p.m.) and Sunday to Nepean (2:30 p.m.)